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Lincoln March (Prime Earth)
Lincoln March was a candidate for Gotham City Mayor and supporter of Bruces Wayne's vision of a new revitalized Gotham. Lincoln March was also the COO of March Ventures and he underwrote Leslie Thompkins' satellite clinic on the east side of Gotham City. While Wayne and March had a business discussion at the top Wayne Tower, an assassin calling himself the Talon attack both philanthropists sticking a throwing knife into March and then kicking Wayne out the window. Both men managed to survive the attack, and Wayne, who had his butler patch up his wounds for him, visited March in the hospital, who warned Bruce not to discount the fabled "Court of Owls" just because he'd never seen them before, as the greatest danger can sometimes be under one's feet when one doesn't realize it. After he'd recovered from the hospital, Gotham City came under attack by a horde of Talons like the one that attacked Wayne and March in the tower. Most of the targets of the Talons had already been executed, leaving Batman the option to save either Jeremiah Arkham or Lincoln. Batman went after Arkham first, Detective Comics Vol 2 9 and then March. At March's office, Batman opened the door to find March pointing a gun in his direction. His actual target was the Talon hiding behind the door, who collapsed when Lincoln took his shot. Batman rushed over to talk to March, finding that he had been stabbed in the chest. With his last words, March begged Batman to give a note to Bruce Wayne. As Lincoln March died, Batman read the letter. It was a list that Lincoln had compiled of the three people most likely to be members of the Court of Owls. Wayne swore vengeance against the Court of Owls. However, March was not the innocent civilian that Batman had been lead to believe. His death was all a ruse, being negated by the Court's own electrum concoction that they had created to keep their assassin army alive through the years. Originally, March was a puppet for the Court, meant to distract Bruce Wayne long enough for their Talon to easily kill him. When Wayne defeated the Talon, March knew he wasn't the only one keeping secrets in their new friendship. Bruce Wayne was the Batman. After being killed by the Talon and revived, March had realized the Court had betrayed him. In turn, while the leaders of the Court of Owls were in the middle of a secret meeting, March returned fire by secretly poisoning their drinks. Soon after, he met with Arthur Brown, who had been tracking the Court of Owls for two years through various clues, and agreed to fund and provide resources for his plot to destroy Batman through the use of his own minor villains. At the Willowwood orphanage, Lincoln March, donning a modernized Talon suit, met face-to-face with Batman. March revealed to the vigilante how he had defied death right in front of him and his former participation in the Court of Owls. After his story, March asked Batman if he had guessed who he really was. He gloats that his real name is Thomas Wayne, Jr., and he is Bruce Wayne's younger brother. Batman refused to believe this was true, despite Lincoln's story of how he had grown up being visited by Martha Wayne, and was then groomed by the Court of Owls to take Bruce's place. The two men fought, causing so much damage that the building they were in exploded. Batman managed to escape, though his opponent's regenerative capabilities meant that he could never be sure if Lincoln March would return. Bruce would never be truly certain whether Lincoln March was telling the truth about his parentage without a DNA test, but many of the facts of his story could fit around the official paperwork - on the condition that Martha and Thomas Wayne had lied. Return to Gotham March was present in the shadows when Cluemaster had a meeting with several other low-ranking Batman villains, namely Signalman, Lock-Up, and Firefly, but was forced to knock Arthur's daughter, Stephanie, unconscious when she found out about the Cluemaster's plot. With Arthur willing to kill Batman himself with the city on fire and in chaos, Lincoln made his way through Gotham and up Beacon Tower, using gas canisters to knock the villains guarding the entrance unconscious before ascending to the top and, with Arthur holding an unmasked Bruce Wayne at gunpoint and about to pull the trigger, slit his throat with one of Lincoln's four knives, killing him before telling Bruce that it was time that the two brothers finished this. Lincoln admitted that he was disappointed that Arthur, who had always been a nobody as a costumed villain and had success in his plan exactly because of that, ever assumed he would ascend to the ranks of the highest and most dangerous, missing his own point. He tackled Bruce over the edge of the Beacon Tower roof with his jet thrusters, and rather than go on another air tour of Gotham with Lincoln March, Bruce pried one of the long shards of glass from his body and thrust it into the jet mechanism, removing March's ability to control it. Soon, they both collided with the screen from which the Riddler used to broadcast his nightly challenge during the Zero Year. Lincoln noted the irony of the fact that Bruce would die in the same place that he first revealed himself to the citizens of Gotham. And, with all the pandemonium that had befallen Gotham, all that would remain to explain it would be the Batman. Arthur Brown and his cronies were long gone, but when the people of Gotham found out that a penniless Bruce Wayne was the Batman, both men would be forgotten. The Batman's legacy would be over forever. As if in answer, Jim Gordon's plan rolled out, and the Bat symbol had been painted or projected onto the side of nearly every skyscraper in the city. In the meantime, Bruce tied the remains of his cowl around his head as a makeshift one, having found it, in order to protect his identity from anyone else who would see the fight. Despite Gotham's rallying, Lincoln March was still intent on killing Batman, but was surprised by a punch to the face from the Spoiler, who declared herself "Batman". When he recovered, he saw that all of Batman's allies had surrounded him. Desperately, he tossed a smoke grenade and escaped into the tunnels beneath the city. Bruce attempts to go after him, but Jim Gordon stopped him, drawing his attention to the Bat-Symbols all over the city, and reminding that Batman has things under control. Beneath the city, the Court of Owls captured Lincoln, and with little sympathy for him after what he did to their leaders, they locked him away in stasis, saying perhaps they would release him in a decade, once he learned his lesson, likely to act as their Talon due to his use of their electrum formula himself. Robin War However, Lincoln was awoken much earlier than that due to a plan he had to initiate the Robin War. Given grace if he could deliver to the Court, Dick Grayson, the Gray Son of Gotham, March believed the Agent of Spyral to be his salvation. Offering Damian Wayne a place in the Court, Lincoln was soon confronted by Grayson for offering the deal. Attacking Grayson over his former identity, Nightwing, March was quickly dispatched by the former Robin. Just as March desired, the Robin War ended with Grayson joining the Court. | Powers = * : Since March took a small injection of Electrum virus that the Talons use, he cannot technically die. He completely regenerates from injuries at an accelerated rate and this makes him nearly immortal. * * * | Abilities = * * * | Strength = | Weaknesses = | Equipment = *'Talon Suit': Lincoln March wears the outfit of what was to be the 21st century Talon, equipped similarly to the Batsuit. It also has a grappling cable and a jetpack, along with a collapsible facemask similar to that of the members of the Court of Owls. This mask is rather fragile, able to be completely shattered with a headset from someone else, even if that person is extremely weak to the point of finding the act of standing itself to be difficult, and appears to be more ceremonial and to hide one's identity than used for armor. The suit also has seemingly energy-based cannons on the arms. The suit also has a mechanism of some sort that allows the suit to move an explosive to the user's hand without needing to move it, in the very least including one with highly localized damage to the ground and a very high quantity of smoke for use in escapes. ** ** ** ** | Transportation = | Weapons = | Notes = * Though it is uncertain whether Lincoln March is truly Thomas Wayne, Jr., Martha Wayne was pregnant at the time of a car crash at the intersection of Lincoln and March, and official records indicate that the baby was born, but did not survive the night. ** When the Anchoress infiltrates Bruce's mind, she forces him to see an illusion of Lincoln March's death again. The Anchoress, unreal and just a virus inside Bruce's mind, comments that Bruce actually believes that Lincoln March is his brother. | Trivia = | Recommended = | Wikipedia = | Links = }}